Tweezers



(No Model.)

I. L. 85 J. M. ELLIS. Tweezers. NQQ 242,52O. 1 Pafiemed Mme "i, LSL.

' ments in Spring-Tweezers, ofwhich theibllou NITED STATES PATENT Orrrce.

FREDERICK L. ELLIS AND JAMES- ltl. ELLIS, OF MILLDALE, CONNECTICUT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 242,520, dated June 7, 1881.

Application filed February 16. 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FREDERICK L. ELLIs and JAMES M. ELLIS, both of Milldale, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improveing is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in spring-tweezers in which the two blades and body consist of a single piece of sheet metal having the two parts of the body and blades connected byalongitudinal bend in said body.

The objects of our invention are to produce a neat, durable, and convenient device for tweezers or tweezers and ear-spoon from a single piece of sheet metal-by an inexpensive mode, which involves only a few operations.

The finished article and the several stages of its manufacture are illustrated in the acco mpanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the first stage of the blank. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the second stage of the blank. Fig. 3 is a transverse sec tion of the third blank, the plane of section extending through the body which unites the tweezer-blades. Figs. 4aud 5 are side and edge views, respectively, of the finished tweezers and ear-spoon. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the second stage of the blank for tweezer-blades of a difierent form. Fig. 7 is an edge view of tweezers formed from said blank, and Fig. 8 is a transverse section of the same on line a: .r of Fig. 7.

We first cut out from sheet metal, preferably steel, what we term the twin blank, Fig. 1, the same being of a proper shape for forming the two blades a a, the body b, and if desired the ear-spoon c, all formed in one and the same piece offlat sheet metal, and united at the body portion of said blank, while the blades are otherwise separated from each other, as shown. This can readily be done with oneblow of a power-press and an ordinary cuttiug-die and punch. WVe next strike the first blank in a swaging-die, to round up and hollow the blades a a and the spoon c, if present, as shown in Fig. 2. We next bend the body portion of the blank, Fig. 2, on the line 3 y, so that the two parts thereof come toward each other and have substantially a ii-shaped form in cross-section, as shown in Fig. 3. We next strike the blank in dies, which brings the two parts of the body together and sets them firmly in place, and if the spoon is present slightly ofl'sets the shank of the spoon atitsjunction with the body bot the tweezers, to bring it nearer the middle of the thickness of the double body, as shown in Fig. 5. Said dies may also round off and remove the sharp edges from the corners of the body b and. spoon c. The corners of the blades a may be rounded oifin the second set of dies. When thus treated the article is finished, ready for polishing by tumbling and otherwise, as may be desired.

If tweezers alone are desired, instead of tweezers and ear-spoon, it is only necessary to omit the spoon from the blank, and to correspondingly change the dies for the subsequent operations.

In some cases it is desirable to form tweezers adapted for the attachment of some other implement to their body, the same being either pivoted or made fast thereto, as may be desired. In such case we form the first cut from sheet metal in substantially the form shown in Figisfi, and then swage the blank, so as to round up and hollow the inside of the blades a (1/, thereby producing the form shown in Fig. 6. The die for striking this blank will also remove all sharp edges from the corners. These blades a a are somewhat more widely separated than in the blank described in the first description of this manufacture; but they are connected in like manner by the body b. We next strike the body I) in proper dies and swage it into the U-shaped form represented in Fig. (i, when the article is finished ready to polish and to receive any desired implement within the recess in the body-as, for instance, a file and nail-cleaner or a button-hook. This last-described manufacture of tweezers is substantially the same as the first, except that the third operation takes the place of the third and fourth operations in the first description.

By the peculiar construction hereinbefore described only a few operations are necessary, and all riveting of the blades together is dis pensed wi th, thereby saving considerable labor. The sides of the body are flat and smooth, having no projecting rivet-heads, and the whole being of sheet metal, a neat, light, and durable tweezer is produced that is convenient to use and carry as a pocket implement.

We are aware that knife and fork handles have been made by cutting from sheet metal a blank so shaped as to form the two sidesand back edge of the handle, the said sidesbeing connected by a portion which extends sub- 5 stantially their whole length, then giving approximate form to the blank by means of dies,

then bringing the two sides together by bendingalong the portion which unites them, and we hereby disclaim the same. This process to ditfers from ours in that it is a process for forming a handle only.. The blank for this handle has no parts which project in either direction beyond the body of the handle, and

consequently the part which in the blank unites 15 the two sides is nearly as long as the sides themselves. The two sides of a handle are thus formed without the knife or fork-blade -or any other device being connected to said handle vor body by the same processat the 20 same time.

Our process difl'ers from the above in that we not only form the body as hereinbefore described, but, in addition thereto, we form integral with said body, but projecting at one end of the same, apair of spring-blades which are entirely distinct and separate from each other for their whole length, and the length of which blades is much longer than the length of the hodyto which they are connected, both the body and blades being formed by a single process all at one time. I

We claim as our invention- The spring-tweezers herein described, consisting of the sheet-metal blades and body, the two parts of the body and'the blades being all in one piece and connected together by the longitudinal bend in the body, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

FREDERICK L. ELLIS. JAMES M. ELLIS.

Witnesses:

MARY J. LEWIS, A. M. LEWIS. 

